ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO TAPPEI NAGATSUKI, THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR OF RE:ZERO, THIS IS A TRANSLATION OF THE FREE JAPANESE WEB NOVEL INTO ENGLISH

ARC 4

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Chapter 49 [LOVELOVELOVELOVELOVELOVEYOU~]

――With the dry clasps of footsteps striking upon his eardrums, Subaru felt a sense of unease inside his very skin.

The cold wind flowing into the Tomb was accompanied by an unpleasant stickiness. As if the ground was clinging to his feet as he ran, every step drained him of strength.
Feeling sharp, electrifying sensations all over his exposed skin, it was like his body was being pummeled by objects protruding from the air. Essentially, it was a feeling that made him hesitate to go forward.

――Subaru already knew a feeling very similar to this.

But, urged on by his sense of foreboding, Subaru swept aside the tangling discomfort as he sprinted towards the entrance of the Tomb.
Passing through the moon-lit corridor and the ivy-ridden entrance, with a sensation of breaking through a membrane of air, Subaru came out of the Tomb.
And there, he saw it.

[Subaru: ……You gotta be kidding me, oy]

Subaru’s feet gouged into the earth as he skidded to a stop.
Almost toppling over from the momentum, flooding into Subaru’s sight was something in the realm of inconceivable.
So detached from common sense was the scene before his eyes.

[Subaru: A shadow……?]

The mutter that spilled from his lips―― summed up just about all of it.
Shadow―― was the only way to describe what he was seeing.

The Sanctuary, which was supposed to be visible from the entrance of the Tomb, was nowhere within sight. While it was true that the inhabited area was located quite far away from the Tomb, as far as Subaru was concerned, there was no way he couldn’t see a single building from here.
Above all, the full moon was still clear in the sky, pouring its silver glow over all the earth. Yet the world he was seeing was far too dark, as if it was submerged under a shadow.

[Subaru: ――――]

Gulping down his breath, Subaru made up his mind to set out towards the darkness-befallen Sanctuary. Lifting his soles off the stone slabs, he stepped onto the soil and grass. ――Or, that should be what it was.
He did feel the sensation of stepping onto a bed of overgrown grass, but his vision, swallowed by the darkness, couldn’t actually verify that fact. The sticky sensation on his skin didn’t change, either.

[Subaru: E-Emilia――!]

Unable to endure these surreal surroundings, Subaru called out to the first name that appeared in his mind. After calling to the girl most certain in his memories, his thoughts resumed their motion, as the names and faces flashed across his mind,

If this was immediately after the Trial, they should still be outside the Tomb waiting for Emilia’s results. Ignoring their calls to stop him, Subaru had rushed into the Tomb and wound up becoming another participant in the Trials. That had always been what preceded his Returns.
Afterwards, when he carried Emilia out of the Tomb, he was always greeted by those usual faces.
This time shouldn’t have been any different.

[Subaru: They’re not here…… but it’s not only that… What’s with the gloomy atmosphere? Even paddy roads in the countryside aren’t this dark…]

Without artificial lighting, the paddy field roads in the night would sink into true darkness in the absence of starlight.
But the Sanctuary’s situation was different from that “instant-dark”. The moon was gleaming overhead, and that gleam was at least falling on Subaru’s body.
And yet, that light somehow dissipated before reaching the ground, setting the scene for this vague and uncertain night. ――It was as if a spotlight was shining on him alone.
The only thing visible in this darkness was himself. Turning to look behind him, even the Tomb he had just come out of had been swallowed into darkness and could no longer be seen.

Memories of walking through the White Whale’s fog came back to him.

Having lost the girl he relied on, thrown off the dragon carriage, unsure whether the White Whale’s jaws were closing in behind him, and having lost both sense of direction and any reason to go on living, he remembered walking on.
In the end, eventually wandering out of that fog, he was picked up by Otto’s favorite dragon, Furufu.
So this time, if he kept on walking through the darkness, perhaps he would be rescued as well?

[Subaru: What am I, an idiot? ……No, I am an idiot. What’s with this deadbeat, loser-dog thinking? If I have no idea what happened, no idea what’ll happen, don’t even know where everyone is and here I am worrying about myself, idiot]

Hadn’t he just confirmed his resolve at Echidona’s tea party?
No matter what happens, no matter how much he must suffer, if Subaru could just pay with his life to solve everything in the end, he would consider it a bargain.
Compared to losing the people most important to him and proceeding into an irreparable future, how fortunate it is to be able to exchange his life for the chance to try again.

So, dawdling around embattled by fear in front of an incomprehensible situation, going in circles before meeting a pathetic end to his life was not what Subaru needed to do.
Rather, he should be boldly challenging his incomprehensible circumstances, and even if he fails to reach an answer, he should grasp every clue he could for vengeance in the next life before welcoming a meaningful death.

[Subaru: In any case, what I have to confirm now is……]

Where Emilia, Ram, and everyone else had gone.

When he first saw that Emilia was not in the Tomb, for a moment, Subaru thought that she had passed the Trial, woke up, and left on her own. But he immediately ruled out that possibility. Because if Emilia passed the Trial and woke up safely, there was no reason for her to not wake Subaru.

Subaru knew from experience with Emilia that when someone inside a Trial is touched or called, the Trial would be interrupted.
Although more accurately, Subaru’s consciousness was inside Echidona’s tea party rather than the Trial, so that premise might not apply here.

[Subaru: But still, it’s not like Emilia to leave me and head out by herself]

She would have tried to pull the unconscious Subaru out of this place, or at least rested him against a wall. He couldn’t imagine that she would just leave without doing anything.
And then, there was also the rather mean conclusion―― Subaru didn’t think Emilia was capable of passing the first Trial on the first try.
Knowing that since day one, Emilia had been stuck on the same Trial in every loop, Subaru was skeptical of the idea that she could have cleared it on her own to begin with.

Therefore, Subaru decided that Emilia’s disappearance was probably not according to her own will. Either someone carried her out, or――

[Subaru: Maybe she came back from the Trial completely dazed, and went out without even noticing that I was here…… that’s not entirely inconceivable]

But that still wouldn’t explain how the world outside was plunged into darkness.
Even if Subaru could accept that as the explanation for Emilia’s disappearance, he still couldn’t begin to imagine what the cause and reason of this scene might be.
At least, in Subaru’s experience, the Sanctuary never once became like this while a Trial was taking place.

As for the absence of the people waiting outside, Subaru’s heart shuddered at the possibility that the ferocious white rabbits might be behind it. But he quickly shook his head and denied that hasty conclusion.
According to his calculations, the attack of the Great Rabbit should take place on the night of the sixth day―― five days from now. Even if it arrived ahead of schedule, he’d still like to believe that it couldn’t have come on the very first day.

――Although, he was intentionally ignoring the fact that the timing of Elsa’s attack on the Mansion had mysteriously changed as well.

That was just another one of the mysteries Subaru had no answers to. But if the date of the Great Rabbit’s attack could randomly change like Elsa’s, then that would leave no room for Subaru to even begin to unravel these circumstances.
Aside from having faith that there was no situation Return by Death couldn’t avert, there was not much Subaru could do.

[Subaru: All I can do now…… is call out to Emilia and the others while looking around and head to the Cathedral to check on the villagers, I guess…]

Straining his eyes trying to see ahead, it dawned on Subaru just how unfeasible his plan was. Although he had the layout of the Sanctuary more or less memorized, it wasn’t to the point of being able to navigate it with his eyes closed.
At this point, even just wandering around this area would require that level of memory power.
Needless to say, getting to his destination safely would be exceedingly difficult. And he couldn’t just unconditionally accept the plan of calling out while searching for the others, either.

[Subaru: If this pitch-darkness was somebody’s doing…… can’t really guarantee whoever I run into will be friendly]

Burning up with anxiety, Subaru continued agonizing over what his best course of action would be.
If he wanted to rendezvous quickly, he should raise his voice and call out. That would be the best way to find out if Emilia and the others were safe. But he was quite aware of the folly of acting blindly from his miserable past experiences. Just how many times had he died in this world because of that?

[Subaru: ……Damnit. If I don’t at least figure out what’s going on, I’ll be screwed if I get killed before that]

At the end of his deliberations, Subaru decided to take the cautious approach.
Suppressing his voice and holding down the sound of his breathing, he focused his eyes into the darkness and followed the map in his mind towards the populated area of the Sanctuary.
Only the sensation beneath his feet was certain. It was the only proof of the existence of the reality outside the Tomb and his only reliance in the world painted in darkness. Despite having fallen into pitch darkness, the Sanctuary should still be the same as before――

[Subaru: ――――U?]

Slowly but surely, Subaru carefully landed each step on the grass. But after only a few steps, he stopped.
The reason, was the wind.

[Subaru: ――――?]

Lifting his face, Subaru somewhat pointlessly looked around in the darkness, hoping to find the source of the ominous breeze.

He felt it. There was something unique about the wind that swept by just now.
It was neither the refreshing breeze passing a field of grass, nor the dusty wind blowing inside the Tomb, nor a wind infused with the blood-soaked scent of a scene of carnage. Instead, it was an air carrying the unmistakable warmth of having touched a living thing.

[Subaru: Wh――]

Unsure of where the wind was blowing from, Subaru looked back in search of the answer.
The Tomb should be directly behind him, but having walked only a few steps away, it was already impossible to see its outlines.
――No, there was a reason other than the darkness why he couldn’t see the Tomb.

[Subaru: ――――a?]

[???: ――――]

At a distance close enough to feel each other’s breaths, in the world of true dark, someone was standing right before his eyes.
The reason he couldn’t see the entrance of the Tomb, was because that person was blocking his view.

How did he not notice when someone had gotten so close to him? And why did that person not utter a sound when they approached him? In that instant, those questions stormed within Subaru’s mind.
But that storm of questions was soon answered.

It couldn’t have been any clearer than that.

{???: ――I love you}

The shadow said to Subaru with a voice so overflowing with affection that it sounded like it was about to melt.

Could Elza be the Witch of Envy?!! Or her Avatar at least? That would explain so much. Why Subaru was chosen as Pride Bishop: she saw him in the thieves’ tavern that very first life and got murderously envious of his heartfelt dying words to Emilia. Why she hides herself in their vision meetings. So he wouldn’t recognize her. Why Elza is envious of the magic gifts of Subaru’s allies. She’s the only one beside Subaru who could change things.

Iam abit confused… iam not trieng to sound rude or so i really dont but… have the translation-times been changed Chicken? What i mean is that, i remember when i look into the live draft u would translate way more than 1/4 each day. Or is it like that because u finally found the speed thats good enough for u? Like i said not trieng to sound rude. Thx anyway for the chaptor.

The first thing I thought was the miasma that covers the Witch of Envy’s head. Even though the return by death curse didn’t effect Subaru in the tomb, doesn’t mean that he didn’t stack up heart grabbing points that were waiting for him on the outside..

Although if that is true, that means that Subaru is going to have a fun time with Garfiel.

I still believe my theory i posted back ago.
-Echindona is the witch of greed and the experimental ground is her project.
-Beatrice cries over her dead mother, has a gospel, is a spiritbeast like Puck and would all do ti bring back her mother.
-Therefore my conclusion is that Echindona created Beatrice and maybe Puck(not sure) in the Experimental grounds, making Beatrice not an true Spiritbeast but an Artificial one.
-This is supported that in older chaptors she once anounced she has to stay in the libary to use potent magic due her weak constitution.
-Puck pretty much disrespects the wiches and could be the reason why he blocked himself out right before they went for the santuary. But i still think this is a bitch move towards emilia herself.
-Good old Roswall sama, i think this ni**ar knows, this guy knows easily to a 90% chance that subaru can change the futur or forsee it.
-This can be supported that Roswall has a Book aswell like beatrice that can predict he futur, he even explained that its usually more detailed but he has to make it out what it says because its strangly written.
-There is more, like the others they NEVER trusted subaru when he FIRST came to the Mansion and they were right on that, subaru was useless servant and could be a potentionel spy from the enemies.
-Now we kick the bucket as subaru died multiple times to see what outcome his actions would do, Roswall NEVER left the mansion like in the last loop, WHY? BECAUSE his Gospel told him that subaru is basically worthless and he would be a burden anyway so he would have a, reason to dispose of him later on, like what basically happens just bad for them subaru just returns from death.
-So then Subaru does a 360° change of personality he IS usefull knows the tricks and kniffs due his constant rewinding which than leads Roswall-ni**ar book to be confused and get rewritten ASAP. That catches Roswall offguard leaving him surprised. This is backed up by the night were RAM(pinky) visits Roswall and reports that subaru seems to do a good job. “So- how is he doing? :)“ ram: “He seems to do decently good, has much to learn but also knows some tricks makes him seem like a good learner.“
“I see– i wont let anyone disturb my canditate(emilia)“
-Now Roswall is clearly suspicios of subaru (logical) after those FEW days he decides TO LEAVE THE MANSION. Think on that please, the LORD of the mansion LEAVES the “simpel“ maids back with an unkown man back(inlogical), who god knows can be an supreme assassasin in disguise. Just after few days, u could say subaru improved but the night before Roswall clearly stated he doesent trust him yet, which makes perfect sense for him. Subaru should st least been there for, 3 months tops to be somewhat trustworthy.
-When Roswall leaves, for the first time he says he has matter to attent to(dunno what), and goes in close ear range to, subaru to whisper to him “i suppose u *will* have everything under controll here“ this must be the time where he first tested his Gospells accrusy.
-Second time was when in the anime subaru stepped forward ,where the canditates explain themselves, and blaimed everyone being racist towards emilia, there was a scene where the camera zooms in on Roswall and this guy *smirks* he just does this while his canditate gets bullied by the council. Why? Because he knows what subaru is up to.
-Third and last time is when in the sanctuary roswall asks subaru if their relationship got any better but subaru denied this strange question because in the previous loop they did get along decently.

keep in mind, that roswald could have left because his gospel said that subaru had everything under controll. (not really under controll, but tried to prevent it)

Since i read the english LN, there are some dialogs and scenes, which were cut from the anime, which implied that roswall is a bit fishy. The same applys to Beako, because she knew in the first loop of the mansion that subaru was cursed befor he went to bed and died from it.

Roswall accidentally spoiled something, when subaru was asking him some question.

WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!
WARNING!!! MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS!!!

Sshhiit!… That’s creepy!…
Oooh this both good and bad.. Bad since she’s there and good since she’s there, cause I really want to know more about her and what if she can finally come face-to-face with Subaru and touch him physically.. Oooooohhh.. This is giving me the chills and yet I’m so loving it ^^
Thanks Chicken! 😀

Apparently. The moment he met Daphne I thought his first words would have been something about how the White Whale’s fog works or how to bring a person’s existence back. I think it was explained but I’m not entirely sure

I doubt Daphne would be able to help him when her powers are different than Ley’s. Besides he came to ask her about the Great Rabbit which was all on his mind at the moment and he wanted to stop talking to her as soon as possible since they can’t converse very well together.

Everyone says that till they actually get a stalker for a girlfriend, having someone following you around all the time can be really stressful, additionally the more extreme ones can actually be dangerous and get into yandere mode even if you do nothing to warrant it.

well tell that to a forever alone guy , who will love her equally , so it wont be as much dangerous 😀 i mean all u see in animes is yandere and the MC afraid coz he doesnt really love her so its dangerous for him, but if he loves her back its all done (but then its pointless to bring the yandere into the anime…)

Subaru and Stella make a great couple there is nothing like a girl that will stop at nothing to please you I mean it worked out in future diary sure she has almost destroyed the whole world but l believe love conquers all lol

It was good despite being rushed but they skipped so much content that it would be impossible to make a sequel, it partially adapted up to volume 3 and the content skipped is important to the subsequent volumes.
It’s a complete LN with total of 5 volumes the last one being released on April 1, 2016. I don’t see the point on advertising a complete novel they could have made a full adaptation since there was only 2 more volumes anyway.

Well that is true but I here they lose money on animation usually but make it up with the increase in the Ln being more we’ll know by the anime remember company’s don’t care about art only care about what makes them money but anime is getting more popular so they are starting to focus on the anime because it is starting to make them more money because of the increase in the popularity witch is good for me because that means the better quality and quantity there will be

Art is not really the issue unless it’s real crap when compared to the original like it was with KonoSuba. They lose money for being dumb and cutting corners, there ar way more anime fans than LN/manga readers even if you consider only Japan, so how come old school anime often followed the story perfectly and quite a few had complete animation? Companies have gotten too greedy and that is why they lose money.

Well older anime was more on tv so it was an episode each week and there were much fewer anime so there was animators to animate it but with the rise of the Internet anime exploded and also created a community were we watch it seasonal 12 to 24 episodes a season and as soon as the next season comes people forget most of the anime of last season and watch new and fresh shows I think we have became a community of people that always like something new instead of a show that lasts along time companys tend to give what the community wants in the most cheapest way and also the animator shortage is also a big problem you should see what they get paid its not right so with the increase in anime because of the internet and the lack of animators caused there to be a lot of lacking animation then way back then

Anime costs way more to make than a Ln actors animators production music distribution and I came from the toonime age of anime like cowboy bebop or gundam g it sounded like you were to and that’s for likening my post it was pretty good lol

It was far worse to make animations back on the day, they had to draw and paint on a special type of paper if it went wrong they had to toss it into the trash and remake it from scratch while nowadays it can be fixed since they draw on computer. And if you really want to there are even scripts to automate things you do often making a single person as effective as a whole team but companies seems to be too proud to use scripts, just like on the old days using a computer for art was considered cheating, now the consider using tools such as scripts as cheating. The costs with animation at least could be reduced that way. As for voice acting and song composing you probably can do something about song composing, however for voice acting there is no way around to make it cheaper.

Quantity is exactly the problem and even now most shows are forgotten and pretty much only original anime with high quality or quality adaptations with more than a single season are remembered. Light novels are suffering the same problem what is translated to English even if you count the fan translated ones are not even 10% of what is released in a single month in Japan, meaning most of them are probably trash and will be cancelled just like what happens with manga, and the ones they animate to get more sales from LNs already have at least good selling rate, since there is no point in animating shit that wont give a return anyway.

I would rather have few anime but get high quality complete animations like on the old days. The bigger problem is how market works in Japan.

As it currently stands even fan animations that you get for free have higher quality than the stuff from TV, that you would probably by a BD later. Touhou is a big example of that there are a lot of fan animations and everything even transition between frames is better than most commercial anime and even the voice acting is so good you wouldn’t believe it was fan made. What I mean is if free fan animations are better than something people are paying for than it’s a big problem, it serves to show that the market is decaying.

Well it is true that by technology it has become cheaper the thing is most money Gos to the production company’s well the animation company s get very little and they then have to pay animators dog pop witch causes them to have an animators shortage and also it may have taken more time to make it back then but there are way more shows so lack of animators and more anime each season is causing the lack of animation even though technology has gotten better look up how much the animators are getting paid and how much they make them work its not right but Netflix said they are going to get 30 original anime this year so anime will grow and they can go to them instead of the other production company’s sure we might get bad anime but with more anime and more of of a community to back it people will put more money in anime because it is profitable.

Yeah, I’m from that time as well there were a lot of good stuff, I remember watching Sailor Moon when it 1st aired and even Yu Yu Hakusho back on the 90’s. Good to know you are from that time too, it’s rare to find people from that time that still watch anime nowadays.

I no that’s great I did not even no that I was watching anime till I was in high school I think dragon ball was my first you no we should just talk in a chat room I mean it’s been pretty fun just talking about anime that way we can just have a good talk

@Kuhaku since i can’t reply directly, i’m talking about this spoilers comment :
“Yes he certainly is. Satella is top-tier. [spoiler]. Seriously Chicken I wish you had held off to release this as a whole chapter.”

Creepy! I mean, ok there is a probably wonderful girl approaching you from behind but… she is a shadow, everything is surrounded by darkness, she says I love you in a creepy and bold-y way and there is no one left.
MMM… definitely creepy.
Thanks for the chapter!